Sprol

The African nation of Somalia came into being in the 1960s when the former British protectorate of Somaliland joined with Italian Somalia. The amalgamation was not a good one for the people of Somaliland and the joining of those two previously separate states, along with the legacy of Western imperialism, is what set the country on its present path.

On Patrol in Mogadishu, Somalia, 1992. Photo: RichPix, via Creative Commons

Somalia first came into the common North American consciousness in the 1980′s. The news was suddenly featuring footage of a lawless country with no government to speak of. There was a civil war that still hasn’t truly ended and in the chaos that followed the overthrow of military dictator Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia became a failed state. Warlords and their makeshift armies patrolled the streets in trucks. Child soldiers carried AK-47 rifles openly and defiantly.


The world reacted by sending peacekeepers. The United States and Canada were part of that force. The US pulled out after a Black Hawk helicopter was shot down. A few Canadian troops tortured a man accused of theft to death, leading to Canada pulling its forces out of Somalia and a fairly major shake-up within the Canadian military.

With the peacekeeping forces gone, Somalia slipped out of the news for the most part. Mogadishu became a no-go zone for the international press. There were some attempts at installing a working government, and a powerless interim government does exist, but for the most part Somalia remained under the control of warlords. With little news coverage, it again slipped from the public mind in the developed world.

Terrorist groups, such as al-Qaeda, thrived in the mostly lawless country. Murders, politically motivated and otherwise, are every day events. Smuggling drugs, weapons, and other contraband from the Somali coast into the rest of Africa is a common form of income for many. Fighting between warlords breaks out often as they struggle for control of disputed areas or smuggling activity.

The country went without an effective government until June of this year. Local governance was achieved by the local warlords and laws could change by crossing the street. Private wars fought by the warlords’ private armies were the norm, and getting caught in the crossfire or inadvertently offending somebody with power were constant threats.

Fight Hunger – Walk the World, May 2006. Photo: Walk The World Reporting, via Creative Commons

In recent years the Islamic Courts Union began settling disputes through a strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law and Xeer, a form of local traditional law. They brought some stability and order to an area known only for anarchy and discord and so gained popularity with many Somali people. That popularity allowed the Islamic Courts Union to build a militia capable of defeating the warlords, which caused the warlords to cooperate with each other, at least to an extent. In the early part of June, through fierce fighting, the Islamic Courts Union took the capital of Mogadishu from the warlords and declared themselves the government.

The US government backed the secular warlords in an attempt to keep an Islamic fundamentalist government from taking power, but that backing was limited to financial support of $100,000 to $150,000 a month provided by CIA operatives. There was no detailed strategy developed and no help from the US military. US aid to the warlords amounted to throwing some money their way.

US diplomats in Nairobi criticized the US payments as being short-sighted and instead encouraged a policy of nation-building, saying that payments to the warlords would make the situation worse, but the Pentagon and CIA favoured backing the warlords and the payments were made. It now appears that the diplomats from the State Department had a better understanding of the situation than the Pentagon and CIA.

The involvement of the US, however minor, caused the Islamic Courts Union to step up their militia efforts. The warlords lost the fight and are currently being pushed from their remaining strongholds. They had regrouped at Jowhar, but were ousted from that position in the last week.

While they have offered assurances that they are not a Taliban-style government, the Islamic Courts Union have already taken steps such as banning western and Indian movies. Even watching the World Cup is presently being discouraged.

As part of assurances to the west, especially the United States, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed has invited western reporters to come and see the progress the Islamic Courts Union is making, but how much of that progress is real and how much is the result of extremist oppression is not clear.

Muddying matters more is the presence of moderate and extremist factions within the Islamic Courts Union. The present leadership of Sheik Sharif Ahmed is generally considered to be moderate, conciliatory towards western interests and capable of working with the clans, but there is a possibility that Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys will take control of the union.

Aweys was the leader of al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, a fundamentalist group linked to al-Qaida. al-Itihaad al-Islamiya is thought to be responsible for kidnappings and assassinations, including the murder of four western aid workers, in Somalia and several bombings in Ethiopia. If Aweys, who is currently close to the Islamic Courts Union leadership, were to gain control of the government, there is little doubt that a Taliban-like regime would exist in Somalia. What isn’t clear is how much influence Aweys has over the present leadership.

During all of the unrest and violence in Somalia, mostly centred around Mogadishu, the small area of Somalia that used to be the British Protectorate of Somaliland has strived to maintain some sort of law and order.

Perched at the top of Somalia on the horn of Africa, Somaliland has been operating as an independent state since Somalia became a failed state. Although they are not recognized as a state by the international community, Somaliland has managed to maintain a form of stable democratic government, its own currency, and a police force throughout the unrest. They are currently lobbying through the United Nations to be recognised as a sovereign state.

Such recognition could be the best way to keep Somaliland from falling into the same sort of anarchy that greater Somalia has suffered, but the international community has been slow to recognize the independence of Somaliland. There are growing concerns that attempts to placate the Islamic Courts Union in Mogadishu will keep influential western nations from supporting the independence of Somaliland.

The Bush White House now appears to be willing to work with the Islamic Courts Union. A spokesperson for the State Department said, “In terms of the Islamic courts, our understanding is that this isn’t a monolithic group, that it is really an effort on the part of some individuals to try to restore some semblance of order in Mogadishu,” in response to a letter from the new government in Mogadishu.

That may be the best course of action for Somalia, but Somaliland may suffer for it.